Felicia Hemans

“ The suns of burning climes have set their seal,
And toil, and years, and perils, have not passed
O'er the bright aspect, and the ardent eye,
As doth a breeze of summer. Be that change
The mask beneath whose shelter thou may'st read
Men's thoughts, and veil thine own,
⁠Sebastian. ”

“ And it is joy which whispers in the breeze
Sent from my own free mountains. Brave Gonzalez!
Thou art one to make thy fearless heart a shield
Unto thy friend, in the dark stormy hour
When knightly crests are trampled, and proud helms
Cleft, and strong breast-plates shivered. ”

“ And the proud sounds of battle. Be thy place
Then at my side. When doth a monarch cease
To need true hearts, bold hands? Not in the field
Of arms, nor on the throne of power, nor yet
The couch, of sleep. Brave friend, we will not part.
⁠Gonzalez.
Be all thy friends thus faithful, for even yet
They may be fiercely tried.
⁠Sebastian. I doubt them not.
E'en now my heart beats high to meet their welcome. ”

“ Yet, with her white sails catching sunset's glow,
Lies within signal reach. If it be thus,
Then fare thee well, farewell, thou brave, and true,
And generous friend! How often is our path
Crossed by some being whose bright spirit sheds
A passing gladness o'er it, but whose course
Leads down another current, never more
To blend with ours! Yet far within our souls,
Amidst the rushing of the busy world,
Dwells many a secret thought, which lingers yet
Around that image. And e'en so, kind Zamor,
Shalt thou be long remembered! ”

“ Will not the bright swords flash like sunbursts forth,
When the brave hear their Chief?
⁠Gonzalez. Peace, Zamor, peace:
Child of the desert, what hast thou to do
With the calm hour of counsel?
⁠Monarch, pause!
A kingdom's destiny should not be the sport
Of passion's reckless winds. There is a time,
When men, in very weariness of heart
And careless desolation, tamed to yield
By misery, strong as death, will lay their souls
E'en at the conqueror's feet, as nature sinks
After long torture, into cold, and dull,
And heavy sleep. ”

“ What strain?—oh! not the nightingale's, when showering
Her own heart's life drops on the burning lay,
She stirs the young woods in the days of flowering,
And pours her strength, but not her grief, away ”

“ With all its passionate energies, is roused
Unto that fearful strength which must have way,
E'en like the elements, in their hour of might,
And mastery o'er creation.
⁠Gonzalez. But they wait
That hour in silence. Oh! be calm awhile,
Thine is not come. My king—
⁠Sebastian. ”

“ And vast, and desolate wilderness, whose lord
Is the fierce lion, and whose gentlest wind
Breathes of the tomb, and whose dark children make
The bow and spear their law, men bear not back
That smilingness of aspect, wont to mask
The secrets of their spirit, 'midst the stir
Of courts and cities. ”

“ Solemn expeditions, with much priestly pomp, were frequently made from Athens to enforce this ordinance, particularly to propitiate the Gods in time of public calamity. Our era refers to the celebrated lustration, at the time of the Peloponnesian war, during the plague of Athens. ”

“ From their supremacy of place, and others
Gone forth, and made themselves the mighty sounds
At which thrones tremble. Oh! be slow to trust
E'en those to whom your smiles were wont to seem
As light is unto flowers. ”

“ GERMAN SOLDIERS AFTER VICTORY.
BY MRS. REMANS.
"But I wish you could have heard Sir Walter Scott describe a glorious sight, which had been witnessed by a friend of his!—the crossing of the Rhine at Ehren-breit-stein by the German army of Liberators on their victorious return from France. "At the first gleam of the river," he said, "they all burst forth into the national chaunt 'Am Rhein! am Rhein!'—they were two days passing over; and the rocks and the castle were ringing to the song the whole time;—for each band renewed it while crossing ”